The Northwest Incident Management Team 10 has taken over management of the Natchez, Poker, Klondike, and Granite Fires. This management area will be referred to as the Natchez Fire.
On the Natchez fire, crews continue to make good progress establishing control lines using heavy equipment and hand crews. The terrain is rugged and crews continue to work on cutting in roads and making access to the areas of the fire.
This area is very rugged and has been unsafe to put firefighters. The team is working on establishing action points for the area. Air attack will continue to be used as long as all safety parameters are met.
The Poker Fire remains in patrol status. One to two engines will be assigned to continue to mop up and monitor the fire.
The Klondike and Granite Fire saw some growth overnight. The operations group is finalizing a burn plan that we hope to implement soon.
The plan is to strategically burn out areas to control the spread of the fire and to continue aggressive aerial attack if allowed by the weather and smoke conditions.
The weather continues to be extremely hot and dry. Humidity is not expected to rise in the evening with the possibility of isolated thunderstorms coming in Saturday through Monday.
Josephine County Sheriff’s office has issued a level 2 evacuation for the residents of Oak Flats. For more information call 541-474-5123
The Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest has issued an emergency area closure in the area surrounding the Natchez Fire. For more details go to:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/rogue-siskiyou/notices/?cid=FSEPRD588356
The night crews continued to make progress on the fires. But, with the winds and low humidity overnight the fires on the Garner Complex continued to be active.
The Grave #3 fire was reported at 800 acres and continued to grow overnight. The Section #14 Fire was at 160 acres and active overnight. Smoke and ash from both of these fires is blowing south into the community of Wimer and surrounding areas. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office issued a Level 2, BE SET, evacuation for homes on Grave Creek Road, north of Ditch Creek. Seven addresses are affected. Contact the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office for details and maps.
The Pleasant Fire was at 400 acres. A new spot fire was found and crews began working to contain it. Crews will focus on this fire by opening additional roads to the fire for easier access. They will continue to secure the line on the north side of the fire. Evacuations remain at a Level 2 for Pleasant Creek road between the addresses of 5047-7948. A Level 3 went into place for the 7 houses at the farthest end of the road and residents were notified by the Jackson County Sherriff’s office.
The Ditch Fire, previously a smaller fire, grew significantly yesterday afternoon, from five to 60 acres. Crews are working to line this fire and secure it.
To the south, the Spencer Fire #3 is fully lined, plumbed and will begin mop-up.
Helicopters will continue water drops on the fires. There are nine Type-1 helicopters available. Canadian retardant planes are here to assist, but due to the smoky conditions in Medford, were unable to fly. Once conditions improve, they will begin assisting the fire.
The public is reminded to stay out of the fire areas for their own, and the firefighting crews, safety.
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